Ford to recall 2 million F-150 pickups for seat-belt fire risk

DETROIT—Under pressure from U.S. safety regulators, Ford is recalling about 2 million F-150 pickup trucks in North America because the seatbelts can spark and cause fires.

The recall, which covers trucks from the 2015 through 2018 model years, comes about one month after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating fires in the pickups, which are the top-selling vehicles in the United States.

The Ford F-150 recall covers trucks from the 2015 through 2018 model years. (Ford)

The safety campaign will cost about $140 million (U.S.) and the expense will be reflected in Ford’s third-quarter earnings results, the second-largest U.S. automaker said in a regulatory filing. The company is maintaining its 2018 profit forecast.

Faulty seat-belt pretensioners in the F-150s can spark excessively in a crash and ignite other materials or gases in the vehicle, according to a recall notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Ford said Thursday that it has 23 reports of smoke or fire in U.S. and Canadian trucks, but it’s not aware of any injuries. NHTSA began investigating in early August after getting five fire reports, including three reports that trucks were destroyed.

The pretensioners set off an explosive charge when sensors detect an accident to rapidly retract the belt instantly to secure passengers. Excess sparks may ignite gases in the body pillar that houses the pretensioners, which may then cause carpet and other materials to catch fire, Ford said.

The callback covers F-150 pickups from the 2015 through 2018 model years. It’s the second time in less than a year that Ford has recalled more than 1 million of its highly profitable pickups. The automaker took an estimated $267 million charge in the fourth quarter of last year to recall and fix faulty door latches on 1.3 million F-series pickups, including the F-150.

The recall covers about 1.6 million pickups in the U.S., plus roughly 340,000 in Canada and 37,000 in Mexico, Ford said.